Chili

It’s that time of year for foods that warm up your insides! We are expecting our first bit of snow sometime between tonight and tomorrow morning. Sounds like not a lot, but any snow is too much! Yeah, not a fan of Winter, can you tell? I like the “cool” but hate the cold. I like looking at beautiful pictures with snow. I love looking just West of us and seeing the beautiful Rocky Mountains with their snowcaps, it’s a stunning site and I’m lucky to live close enough to see it whenever I want. I hate actually being in the snow though, I hate the slippery roads and sidewalks, I hate the deep snow you have to walk through to get anywhere and then the messy slush you have to deal with when it starts to melt. I hate having to bundle up before you can leave the house.

I love Winter cooking though! Soups and stews, using the oven and not worrying about making the house too hot, instead welcoming the added heat….well, ok sometimes, I get hot even in Winter lol.

Last weekend I made Chili for the first time since Spring. I don’t make Chili in the Summer. Even though I make it in my Slow Cooker so it wouldn’t heat up the house anyway, Chili is just too much of a warming food for warm days. Perfect though for the days that are now upon us! The high tomorrow is –8 C….our first day of the season below zero…boooo!

My family isn’t a fan of beans, so if you like beans feel free to add them, but we don’t. We like our Chili nice and thick and meaty. I usually make it with Ground Beef, but I have made it with Ground Pork before too because when I had a Costco card the pork was usually cheaper. There is very little difference in taste, I have replaces Ground Beef with Pork in many recipes and if anything I almost think the pork absorbs the flavors of everything in the dish better. Of course you could also use Ground Chicken or Turkey….both are insanely expensive where I live(so is the beef for that matter LOL!), so I have never used either of them. If you can afford them of course you will end up with a leaner Chili.

A note on the tomato items I put in as well. These are the items I buy to put in if I’m out of canned tomato products and buying some specifically for Chili, but if I’m just cooking from what I have on hand I have used many different combinations of tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and stewed tomatoes. The only one I remain consistent with is the tomato paste. I put the same total amount of tomato items in though, it doesn’t seem to affect the Chili by changing the combination of products.

Chili

(makes a big Slow Cooker full, for my family of 4 with 2 boys who are HUGE eaters we get 2 meals plus enough for lunch for one or two of us out of this recipe)

1 giant bulk pack lean ground beef

2 large onions

4 cloves garlic

2x 398ml cans of tomato sauce

2x 156ml cans of tomato paste

796ml can of whole tomatoes

398ml can of diced tomatoes

2 1/2 tsp cumin

2 1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 to 2 tbsp Chili Powder

2 1/2 tsp Oregano

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp pepper

3 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Saute meat, onions and garlic. Add to slow cooker when done.

Add all remaining ingredients, give it a good stir, cook on low for 8 hours. If you don’t have a Slow Cooker you can cook on the stove simmering for about 2 hours.

Jolene